Daring
by owlsrawsome
Summary: "A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is not what it is built for" -Albert Einstein, or how Mary Daniels learns that some risks are worth taking. Edmund/OC during Prince Caspian.
1. Goodbyes

**Hey people**

**First off, thank you to anyone how dares to read this. This isn't my first story or anything special like that but it honors me that someone would take the time to even click on this after that summary. **

**Secondly, for the purpose of, well, romance and characters and maturity, I've screwed around with the ages a little. They're still pretty young in PC so I felt it was necessary to age everyone up a bit. I'm not goinig to add exact ages for everyone but Edmund and Mary are around seventeen and you can base everyone else's ages off of that. **

**Confession time,people. I don't update. I mean, sometimes it happens but usually I'm that horrible person that doesn't update for a month...or a year. That being said, I will certainly try to keep updates regular but no promises. **

**Fell free to point out any spelling/grammar mistakes that I make. I try my best but no one is perfect and this is just for fun so there will be some mistakes in there at some point. **

**If you like, if you hate, if you think it's boring as hell, please review. I'll jump up and down and smile if you do. Hey, maybe I'll even update faster if you review. Seriously, reviews are the nourishment of authors and I'm starving. Please, I'll do anything, just review. **

**By the way, disclaimer, I'm neither dead nor a man so I definitely can't be C. S. Lewis. This is sad for so many reason but mainly because it means I own nothing. That goes for any and all other chapters I post for this story. **

**Sorry for how long this AN was but you got to start somewhere. Again, thanks for reading, hope you like it and please do review. **

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Mary Daniels was seventeen when her life was turned inside out, upside down, shaken and then spun all quite unexpectedly.

It happened on what had appeared to be an average day that started like most others with Mary being woken up by the yelling of her mother.

While Mrs Daniels was a petite woman, she had the voice of a fog horn and was all too comfortable using it. This particular morning she was loudly stating her opinion of the neighbour's choice in shoes.

Upstairs, Mary snorted at her mother's antics and brushed the sleep from her eyes. After a quick glance at her bedside clock (she'd overslept), she pushed her brown hair out of her face and got out of bed, prepared to face another dull day.

She rummaged through the clothes on her bedroom floor, hoping to find her school uniform. Her red blazer was draped over her vanity and her tie was half hidden in the corner. She miraculously found a white shirt in her closet and her grey skirt was at the foot of her bed.

Having accomplished one of the more difficult morning tasks, Mary started on the overall much easier job of making her hair presentable. She brushed the knots out (you would think that she had fought a war, not been asleep for the number of tangles there were) and used a simple white hair band to keep most of it off of her face.

She made it downstairs in twenty minutes (nearly a record), and was sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast when she saw her mother for the last time. Mrs Daniels and her daughter had little in common when it came to looks or personality but the war had brought them closer to each other and it was a habit of theirs' to share the first meal of the day together.

"I don't know what Mrs Baker is thinking, wearing those ghastly things. Did you see them, Mary?" her mother began and all the girl could do was sigh and shake her head. Without looking at her daughter, Mrs Daniels continued, "They were red and shiny with heels so high I truly do not know how she didn't break her neck walking down the stairs. Oh, they really were only fit for a woman of lesser morals!"

Mary thought they sounded rather appealing and fancied a pair herself but she kept her mouth shut for she had long since learnt that arguing with her mother never went well. It was usually best to smile and agree. "That's scandalous, Mom."

"It truly, truly is! Why, I have half a mind to march over there and inform Mr Baker of the whole thing. He would be outraged if he know that his sweet little wife was wandering around London in those, those… things"

Mary rolled her eyes and smiled. She was sure Mr Baker know exactly what his 'sweet little wife' was 'wander around London in' and didn't care one bit. The couple fought regularly and very publicly and this wasn't the first time they had been the topic of conversation for the mother and daughter.

"I'm sure he would be just as outraged as you are, Mom. Unfortunately, I can't stick around to see .I'm already late and I would hate to miss my train," Mary said, "You know how much the headmaster hates it when we're late." She kissed her mother's cheek, plucked a muffin from the table and grabbed her school bag.

"I'll see you in the evening, hopeful we'll get a letter from Dad. Bye!" she called and was out the door before her mother could gossip anymore. Mary did like to gossip (everyone has their faults) but she had been sincere when she said she hadn't wanted to miss her train. She deplored being late and having everyone stare at her.

The walk to the station was quick and Mary was cheerily munching on the muffin that she had grabbed on her way out the door. It was plain and mostly tasteless but her mother had made a batch that morning so it was still warm and fresh.

As she walked down the stairs towards the platform, she was surprised by the large crowd. Dozens of school children had formed a ring around three boys who appeared to be fighting.

Mary rolled her eyes and smiled. She disapproved of fighting but this was the second time that week that there had been a fight and from the glimpse she had gotten, it seemed a older blonde boy from the previous scuffle was involved it this one too.

She cringed when the blonde got thrown to the ground. Mary had never been in a fight like this one but she could still appreciate the fact that a blow like that had to be painful.

The crowd roared when a slightly younger (around her age) dark haired boy throw himself into the circle and defended the blonde.

Mary bit her lip. The fight was more even now and it looked like someone might actually get hurt. It was funny to watch some prick get taken down a few notches but there was nothing amusing about someone getting seriously injured.

The excitement came to an abrupt stop when two adults came to brake the boys apart. All four looked dismayed and Mary couldn't help but chuckle to herself before continuing down to her platform.

The blonde and the dark haired boy from the fight had been joined by two girls and we're standing a few feet away from Mary on the platform. The girls were wearing uniforms that matched Mary's but that wasn't surprising seeing as St Finbar's was one of the larger schools in the area. Looking at them as a whole, it was easy to tell that they were siblings.

With her muffin now finished, she hummed quietly to herself and waited for train. She was content to leave the family to their business and think of the day ahead of her.

Shirley, one of her good friends, had a new beau and there would certainly be gossip about them. He was apparently older and Shirley was always terrified that he was going to sign up and join the war. She swore that she would marry him if he did but it seemed unlikely. Shirley had only just turned seventeen and had claimed to be in love with her last boyfriend, only to break things off with him two days later because 'his jaw moved strangely when he ate'.

As if Shirley wasn't bad enough, Catherine, or Catty, another friend, was barely passing history and had been having picnics and going on walks with some academic follow in hopes of him being willing to tutor her. It might have been a solid plan except Catty was only doing it for the lessons and he was madly in love with her or so she said. It could hardly end well.

Though maybe this was why Mary liked her friends. So what if Shirley and Catty were a bit silly and sometimes selfish, they were willing to take a risk and do something exciting. Mary herself was far too practical to do anything like that. It was nice to have something interesting going on, even if it was someone else's interesting.

As she casually glanced around, she noticed that one of the tiles had fallen off of the wall. She frown and took a step towards it but stopped when a second and then third tile fell. Right before her eyes, the entire wall started to transform from tile to rock.

"What..." was all she could gasp before turning to find somebody else. The boy next to her looked completely calm and Mary felt like screaming.

"Excuse me, but do you know what's going on with..." she trailed off because the boy didn't even glance at her. In fact, his eyes didn't even move from the spot on the wall he had been staring at.

"Pardon me but the tiles are coming off of the wall. Something is wrong!" she tried again to gain someone's attention and failed, again.

Mary ran a hand through her hair. This was insane. The were hardly any tiles left at all and Mary was sure she could see the light of day steaming in from a newly formed hol. The entire station might collapse. "Pardon me, the wall… something is wrong!"

Still, nobody else seemed to notice.

This wasn't happening. It was all some sick joke. "Excuse me" she tried again to gain the attention of the nearest person, more forcefully this time. "Excuse me but the wall..."she trailed off, her eyes focused now on her train, her all important train, her train that was now spending through the station without her on it.

She could see it's rear lights fade into the darkness beyond the platform and suddenly she wasn't on the platform anymore but in a cave.

It was the strangest thing. One moment she was standing there waiting patiently and the next she was in a large cave facing the ocean.

At least, she thought it was the ocean. She didn't recognize any of it. The cave had a large opening, bigger then the tunnel she had previous be in and the rock was a variation of greys and looked rough. The floor beneath her was rock but she could see the by the entrance it transitioned into pretty golden sand. Even from this distance, Mary could tell that the water was the most pure of blues and very clear. It was all absolutely beautiful and it made Mary want to puke.

There was no way this could be happening. The was no explanation. It made no sense. One moment she was standing there and the next she was in a bloody cave in the bloody middle of nowhere. It made no sense.

"Oh! Oh my god. Oh my god! Oh my god!" Mary repeated, her voice getting louder and closer to sobs every time. A final "Oh my god" was all she could choke out before she was in hysterics; sobbing, shaking, crying.

This was all wrong. It was all horribly, horribly wrong. She must have fallen down and hit her head, or...or maybe it was all one big hallucination from lack of sleep. God knows she didn't get enough.

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**Hope you liked it and please review.**


	2. Beginnings

**Hi all!**

**So, I guess I was telling the truth when I said that updating was not my strong suite. I'm super sorry about the long time between updates but to be completely honest, that is probably going to be the usual when it comes to me and updating. **

**I don't plan to write every scene from the movie and I am going to screw with the plot line a little, so don't be surprised if something is different from the movie. I enjoy the film but this is my story so I'm going to write what I think works best. Also, I find that it's super boring reading the same six scenes with the occasional new piece of dialogue in these OC stories. Feel free to comment on if it works for you or not. Constructive criticism is the best. **

**I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes. Feel free to point them out nicely, I always appreciate constructive criticism. I've gone over some of this but it isn't completely edited because...well, I get lazy sometimes. Sorry again, all mistakes are mine. **

**Please do review, they always make me smile. Every review just gets me more motivated and makes me want to sit down and write. So really, the more reviews I get, the faster the updates. Not that I'm going to withhold updates for reviews because that's cruel but they do genuinely help me get excited about a story. **

**On a similar note, thank you to everyone that reviewed last chapter. You are all far more brave then me if you're willing to read a story with only one chapter. Thank you all, you are beautiful people. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Mary and I'm not even sure about her. **

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The sun had long since set and there was a slight chill in the air. The moon hugh high in the night sky and it's reflection shimmered on the water.

Edmund yawned. It had been an eventful day.

He was happy to be back in Narnia but nothing was as he had expected it.

Firstly, Narnia itself was all wrong. The trees were just as beautiful and the water just as clear but nothing was the same, not really. Cair Paravel was gone and so were all of their friends, their family.

In some ways, everything felt hollow. Without the waving of the trees and the chatter of the animals, it was silent. Edmund could practically hear the whispers of ghosts that had once inhabited Narnia. It was eerie and a stark contrast to what had once been there.

Mary Daniels had also come as a shock. Despite only ever coming to Narnia twice before, Edmund had never really considered the idea of anybody other than his siblings coming with him. Nevertheless, Mary seemed nice enough but it was still hard to tell. She had barely spoken three words to any of them after Peter and Lucy had calmed her down.

Not that Edmund blamed the girl for her muteness. He could only guess how strange this entire things was for her. It was strange for him to be back after a four years away, it must be absolutely insane to random come here. When he had first wandered into Narnia, it had been exactly that. It had helped that it had been his feet that had brought him into Narnia and he had been able to see how the fur coats had transformed into branched and pine nettles.

So far, Edmund had been slightly impressed with her ability to cope. Despite her being a bit hysterical in the beginning, Mary had taken everything in stride. Well, maybe not in stride but she had been quick to calm down and had made an effort to be logically.

Coping probably wasn't the right word. She was most likely stuck in a state of shock. Nevertheless, after having lived with two sisters for all of his life, the lack of shrieking and willingness to go along with what she had been told seemed like a small miracle.

While Mary's appearance had been strange, it was hardly the strangest part of today. That title belonged to Narnia itself.

Perhaps strange wasn't the right word. Edmund, even when he was young and bitter, had thought that Narnia was something good. Fierce and unforgiving but always something to be admired. Strange didn't carry quite the right connotation. Startling or unexpected were better words to describe this journey to Narnia.

But there he was, thinking like a king again. It was mighty confusing sometimes, being a grown adult with years of experience in governing and at the same time, a teenager that knew nothing of the world and it's horrors.

The first days back in London had been hell, truly. He had opened his mouth to give an order, something simple and everyday, only to shut it in realisation that no one cared to follow his orders anymore.

The war had been the twist of the knife, the salt in the wound. There he was, a seasoned soldier, someone who had successfully commanded armies, being denied the simple right to even fight. He could handle not being the one to give the orders but to stand idle will men died on mass was something else.

This was one of the immense pluses of Narnia. Here, he was in charge. He gave the orders. No one could tell him what he could or couldn't do. Well, his siblings had considerable sway over his decisions but in the end, it was rare that they ever truly forced him to do anything.

It would be awhile before there would be anyone who cared to listen to his orders though, if their current predicament was anything to go by. Edmund, his siblings and Mary were camped at the moment in the ruins of Cair Paravel. Early in the day, they had climbed up the cliff from the beach and up to the old palace and what had awaited them was astonishing. There was nothing left of their once beautiful home. All that remained were crumbling pillars and half-broken walls. What had once been their safe haven now looked like a tomb.

They had found their old treasure room easily enough and the sight of the familiar items put them all at ease. Peter's sword and his chess set may be relicts of a time long ago but they are also relicts of his time, of their golden age. They confirmed that this was indeed Narnia and more specifically Cair Paravel.

That however brought about a whole new round of questions. Lucy had pointed out easily enough that the palace had probably been destroyed by catapults if the holes in the remaining walls were anything to go by. What was harder to answer was who had been the one to wage war on Cair Paravel and likely Narnia as a whole. To top it off, Cair Paravel wasn't only in ruins, it was ruins. It looked like nobody had been there for years and it was obvious that no one had bothered to fix the once beautiful castle. For all the siblings and their reluctant companion knew, it could have been abandoned some decades ago or perhaps even centuries. This was good because it meant that it was unlikely anyone would bother them here, giving them a bit of safety but the sheer fact that it had been destroyed in such a violent manner put them all ill at ease.

When they had finally had enough of rummaging through their treasure, the group of youths had explored the ruins, hoping for some sign of recent use by some kind of intelligent being. After finding nothing and seeing how the sun had sunk low on the horizon, they had decided to return to the cave that they had originally shown up in and call it a night.

Edmund had opted to take the first watch of the night and from his spot by the entrance of the cave, he could observe the whole beach. For several hours now he had been watching the ocean, trying to call his thoughts. It was a soothing sight, the way the waves swept up and down the sand, never relenting or slowing.

He glanced up at the sky again and noted how late it was. He yawned before standing and waking up Peter for his turn. Pete was unhappy for the disruption but soon his eyes were open and he was taking Ed's place by the door.

Edmund himself settled down near his sisters, further inside of their temporary refuge. Tomorrow they would find their answers. After all, everything was better tomorrow.

* * *

Everything was most definitely not better the next day.

It had started when Edmund was awoken by Lucy's complaining. His sister's voice was high and shrill to his still not quite awake brain and all he wanted to do was roll over and go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Lucy had a rather valid reason to be complaining this particular morning and so Ed had no option but to open his eyes and abandon sleep's sweet embrace.

Lucy, it turned out, was complaining about the lack of food, something that everyone agree was an issue. Hell, even quite, subdued Mary had jumped up when Peter had suggested to go looking for some wild fruit. Susan remembered the location of the orchard that had once supplied the palace's kitchen with apples, peaches and cherries. After a bit of bickering, getting lost and remembering the exact path to the aforementioned orchard, the group were happily munching on a much needed, if not particularly well balanced, breakfast of shiny red apples.

Peter had just finished recalling one of the siblings' adventures involving an apple tree while at the Professor's when Mary chimed in on the conversation, "My neighbours, the Browns, have this apple tree that always gives off the biggest, juiciest apples and they would invite all of the block to come and pick the apples and one year, Albert Abbott," Mary's face scrunched up and she giggled, though she looked a bit ashamed, "who had the most unfortunate name, decided to play a joke on Lizzie Preston who always horrid to everyone because she went to a posh school and had these fancy shoes that were always shiny. And, well, he asked her if she wanted to be the 'Queen of Apples' and Lizzie would have said yes to being the queen of anything. So Alby took her to the Browns' Apple tree and told her that if she ate every single apple that had fallen from the tree that she would be queen and that she could tell everyone what to do. So Lizzie ate every single apple on the ground, well, she tried to... but she ended up getting sick halfway through and throw up all over her beautiful, beautiful shoes. And, and the best part was the look on her face when Alby told her there was no such thing as the 'Queen of Apples' and that he had made the whole thing up. She was so angry! Her whole face was as red as the apples!"

Edmund could hardly hold in his laughter. The story itself was hardly deserving of such a reacting but Mary's facial expresses were worth it. She had been her usual reserved self at the beginning but after uttering Albert Abbott she had started to smile and it had only widened from there. By the end of her tale, she was beaming and struggling to hold back her laughter. The result was that she was a strange combination of animated and composed, both sides fighting for control if her smile, partially hidden by her hand, was anything to go by.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess that wasn't really that funny. Well, it was a bit mean but Lizzie is truly a ghastly person and it was so funny when it happened. I'm pure rubbish at telling stories," Mary babbled after seeing Susan's less the approving face and the overall lack of laughter.

It seemed that Mary wasn't entirely sincere when apologizing because a second later her smile had won and she dissolved in a fit of giggles. The was the straw that broke the camel's back and soon Edmund was laughing with her, egged on by the occasional snort that came from the quiet girl.

Peter was soon doubled over himself and Lucy was quick to follow. Even Susan began to chuckle softly, though that was probably directed more at her companions. The entire group lay in the pretty orchard, laughing about nothing exempt themselves.

After a particularly loud snort, Mary called out breathless, "Her face was priceless, absolutely priceless…", before falling into breathless laughter again.

Edmund couldn't help himself this time. "Your face has her beat", he replied mostly because it was true. Mary had turned bright red and her smile contorted her face into something else, more light and less perfect.

Susan, always the polite one, was quick to admonish him, "Ed, be nice!".

In the end, it didn't matter that Mary's story wasn't funny or that Edmund was rude or that their laughter made no sense. This was the moment that Edmund would look back on and see the first signs of friendship and comradery between this unexpected girl and the siblings. Mary had unknowingly made herself a really person to Edmund, a human with experiences and hopes and strengths and faults and weaknesses, something more than a unwanted and unexpected intruder into their world. This was their beginning.

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**Thank you and don't forget to review!**


	3. Breaking

**Hi, everyone! (Or whoever's left) **

**It's been a while. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I know that I had already uploaded chapter 3 and half of this is in fact that, but I added quite a bit to it since it was very short. I hope you like it and feel free to review, it always makes me happy and more motivated. Point out errors or sing praises (unlikely) if you like but please review. **

**Thanks, and in case it wasn't obvious, I own nothing.**

* * *

It turned out that lions were Mary's breaking point.

Mary thought that that was quite reasonable really. Seriously, who exactly expects to see a lion in the middle of a forest. Yes, a forest like little Red Riding Hood or Snow White. A nice forest, full of evergreens and deciduous trees, wolves and bears, anything but a god damn lion.

But of course, silly little Lucy seemed determined to remind each and every one of them every chance she got that she had apparently seen a lion.

Mary thought Lucy was sort of cute in the way of younger cousins and children that you had to take no responsibility for. When stuck with her in a forest, no proper adult in sight, that cuteness evaporated and left only exasperation and a deep set want to scream some sense into the child.

Or maybe this was just her breaking now. Lucy was truly sweet, almost sickly so.

It had started out okay. Peter had decided that they couldn't stand around and do nothing and that they really ought to try to find people. And when Peter said people, he meant anything that could talk to them, including bears, beavers, centaurs, fawns and unicorns (unicorns!).

They had quickly found a creature, well creatures, that matched Peter's criteria, though that didn't turn out so well. The creatures were two men, heavily tanned and armored, who were rowing a small boat with a stoic dwarf (dwarf?) between them.

It had turned into an incident when the two men had tried to drown the poor little dwarf (who did not appreciate that particular nickname).

Peter had made it worse and proven just how out of touch the siblings were with their precious Narnia. Mary had still considered it a success for nobody but the would-be murderers had been harmed and the dwarf was only a little wet (drenched and shivering were more accurate but less hopeful).

Now, they were crashing around a seemingly endless forest without, to Mary, any real destination in mind. Which was why, with an irritated dwarf, a very lost girl and four bickering siblings, Mary was trying to find something hopeful and absolutely failing. Then Lucy decided to start yelling about a lion.

They had reached a ravine that Peter (who apparently made all the decisions despite the fact that all of the Pevensies were crowned monarchs) was trying to argue was truly not a ravine at all and should really just be a stream with a deep bed which had Mary starting to question his eyesight. A second look at the "stream" made her question more than just that.

There was a large drop, enough to severely injure, if not kill, and the water at the bottom looked deep and fast. This was not a stream.

While everyone tried to talk some sense into Mr "It's just a minor stream", Lucy was apparently busy hallucinating lions.

"Oh look" the little girl had cried, "it's Aslan!", while jumping up and down by the edge of the ravine. It would have been such a shame, a truly tragic event, if the ground had caved beneath her darling, darling little feet.

And so everyone had stopped arguing about the definition of a creek vs a gorge and had now moved on to the much more legitimate debate of whether or not there had been a lion a few feet away from the group, a lion which only Lucy noticed.

"I swear I saw him! You have to believe me! Peter? Susan? Ed? Come on Ed! You know that he was there!" Lucy argued passionately, with such strong evidence supporting her claims, such as "you have to believe me" and "it was him".

"Lucy…" Susan, who was a least trying to be reasonable, attempted to convince her sister to drop it, "if, if it was Aslan, why didn't we see him?"

"Well, well...maybe because you weren't looking for him, Su!"

Mary sighed. The logic there was amazing. It happened all the time for her, objects simply not being there because she wasn't specifically looking for them. Edmund gave her a side look and snickered quietly. Maybe he agree.

Peter, valiant and wise Peter, was now fighting the good fight and trying to convince Lucy that "yes, yes of course, everybody believes that you saw something" while still getting across that "it wasn't Aslan, we would have noticed a gigantic lion" and "no, we can't go leaping over a ten foot wide canyon to make sure that it was him".

"At least it's a canyon now," Mary couldn't help muttering to herself. The dwarf on her left let out a hearty laugh but the siblings ignored her.

"Maybe we should just check it out?" Edmund offered half heartedly, "just look around the area where Lucy had been standing?"

"Ed, stop encouraging her!" Peter scolded.

"No! You always act like you're in charge, Peter, but you're not! You're not! I'm a queen as much as you're a king." And wasn't that such queenly behaviour, yelling and stomping feet. "Mary! You saw him, didn't you?! You must have seen him! Tell them you saw him!"

Mary was not up to this. Lucy was staring at her with wide eyes, trying to look cute, Edmund looked undecided and Peter and Susan were more than a little exasperated. "Well...I mean, the sun was shining in my eyes?" Mary offered. Lucy looked at her, motioning her to continue. "It...there might have been something, or...I don't know. Why don't we just do what Edmund wanted?" Mary questioned, anything to save her from giving a true answer.

All heads whipped around in Edmund's direction and by the look he gave Mary, he wanted about as much to do with this conversation as Mary but nevertheless explained, "Just look at the ground where you were standing. If it was Aslan, he was probably trying to tell us something and since we obviously can't follow him, maybe that's what he wants. Let's not argue though, since that's never what Aslan wants."

That left Mary slightly surprised. The younger brother had been the far quieter of the two and Mary hadn't expected such an eloquent, at least in comparison to her word vomit, explanation. The others must have been slightly impressed as well, for everyone was doing what he suggested. Lucy was combing through the grass, Susan was weakly pushing branches around and Peter was staring stubbornly at the other side of the ravine, standing in the exact spot that Lucy had seen the lion. Edmund seem slightly surprised by his siblings obedience but didn't question it and went off wandering the general area.

Well, when it Rome seemed like the best philosophy at the moment, so Mary wandering past Peter and closer to the edge of the gorge. Stopping a safe distance from the rather deadly looking fall, she bent down and started patting the earth, never having felt more silly. She inched closer to the side unconsciously and very soon regretted it.

She lent to one side a bit, patted the ground perhaps a bit too harshly, and suddenly felt everything give way under her. With a scream, she fell.

* * *

Mary wasn't really one for expletives but she felt like this situation merited it.

She didn't have far to fall but her landing was hardly ideal. Her ankle ended up twisted beneath her body and as her full weight came crushing down upon it, she heard a sharp snap and felt blinding pain. Another scream was torn from her while she felt her elbows dig painfully into hard ground, taking the worse of the remaining impact.

Peter, the closest to where she had fallen, appeared above her, leaning over the side of what had proved to be a rather unstable cliff. He let a happy cheer and jumped down beside Mary. Barely pausing to make sure she hadn't broken her neck, he continued along what Mary had only now taken the time to notice was a rather convenient 's joyous cry of "It goes a the way down!" came from around a bend and slightly down. 'Yuppy' was all Mary could think, the pain in her ankle coming through with a vengeance.

The rest of the group quickly joined the two. "Mary!" Lucy exclaimed upon seeing the older girl in her awkward position on the ground, "are you alright? Did you hurt something?"

"Here, let me help you up," Susan said while taking ahold of Mary's arm and pulling her up so she was at least sitting. "Peter, wait a moment, Mary hurt her...Mary hurt something."

"My ankle. It was my ankle that I hurt," Mary choked out, fully feeling the pain now.

Edmund came up beside Susan, squeezing his sister to fit on the narrow ledge. "Do you think you can stand?" his hands reaching out to help Susan heft her up the rest of the way.

"Um...I can try. It hurts though" Mary complained, feeling sorry for judging Lucy so harshly for her childish behaviour when Mary felt like stomping her foot right now as well. "Just...um, if you take my hand and... like that maybe" she mumbled, letting the siblings do most of the work. As they leveraged her up, more weight was put on the injured ankle and when they nearly had her vertical, she cried out as her leg buckled.

"Oh!" Edmund cried out as she tipped forward almost entirely onto him. Susan, though she had tried to help, couldn't take half of Mary's weight without any warning, leaving most of it for Edmund. They tittered close to the edge, Susan and Edmund knocking into Lucy, who had be hovering behind them. More than one person squeaked before they finally had stabilized themselves.

"Never a dull moment," Edmund quipped. Mary let out a breathless laugh and felt the hysteria return.

"Never a dull moment," she repeated humorlessly, completely lacking emotion. Oh, how she missed dull moments now. She closed her eyes, stopped her tears, sighed and opened her eyes. "Um…-"

"You," the dwarf, who had been silent till now interrupt with a grunt, "Boy, take her arm and let's move. Your brother is probably half way down by now and I for one don't trust that boy to lead himself home."

Lucy opened her mouth to defend her brother but Susan's sigh cut her off. "Leave it Lucy, we really should be going. Edmund, help her," she ordered and moved ahead. Mary could deal with that. It seemed fair enough. She raised her arm up and Edmund moved underneath it and took most of her weight and then they were off.

Well, 'were off' implied some sort of speed and really, snails could have beaten the pair. Mary had taken to doing a funny little hop-skip to avoid stressing her ankle and Edmund seemed unable to quite get into the rhythm of Mary's quirky jumps and either moved too quickly or too slowly. Overall, they were an apologetic mess, neither meaning to cause problems but both making it more difficult. The added factor that they were on a slim ledge with a potentially fatal fall as a consequence of really messing up didn't help much.

Eventually, they made it down and then up again and found the rest of the group waiting for them. "That most have been what Aslan wanted us to find!" Lucy declared smugly, "It must have really been him."

Well, the girl had lead them to a way across, Mary couldn't help but give her that. Maybe not the most convenient for her at least but a way. She had probably earned the right to a bit of gloating and a well placed 'I told you so'.

"I'm sorry we didn't believe you Lucy but...it's just been so long and, well, none of this is makes any sense. Next time, we'll believe you," Susan promised, looking torn between true regret for not trusting her sister and confusion over the situation in general. At least Mary wasn't the only one who found the whole thing strange.

The rest of the party mumbled apologies and promises of next time as well, Peter being particularly sincere. Edmund stayed out of it entire, having never really disbelieved his sister to start with. Mary and the dwarf (she really ought to have remember his name by now) were far more halfheart but nevertheless went through the motions. Lucy seemed placated and returned to her sunny disposition.

Susan took a crack at trying to secure Mary's ankle before deciding that other than binding it, there was little they could do. The pain had abated somewhat but the whole area was starting to swell and bruise. Mary sighed. And then sighed again. She had been doing too much sighing lately.

Once they had decided on a direction to head, Peter helped her to her feet and took his turn attempting not to kill them both while actually moving at a decent pace. Lucy had taken to singing songs about 'Old Narnia' that were pleasant, if a bit strange. Most of them were about spring, full of flowers and animals, both familiar and strange. They were certainly melodic but they sounded older, like from a forgotten dream or an age gone by. They sounds strange in this wood.

Susan eventually grow tired of Lucy's songs and sung some of her own, more modern, ones Mary recognised. Time passed pleasantly in the pleasant forest, with a pleasant temperature and a pleasant mood. Not even the dwarf (Trumpy was it?) could really find much to complain about.

This peace obvious couldn't last. After some time, they came upon a dry riverbed and walked along it in what was apparently the right direction. Eventually, it widden and a true river formed, a pretty dark blue and they marched along beside that.

It was at this point that Mary had her first encounter with the local wildlife. She had never had any problems with animals before, quite liking them in fact, but then again, she had ground up in London. The wildlife there consisted of stray dogs and a bird outside her window that always started chirping just that bit too early. This, this was rather different.

Peter had just handed her off the Edmund, having had enough of her sighing, which was even getting to her, when a bear appeared. If the lion hadn't been bad enough, now there was a bear. A really, goddamn bear was all Mary could think. The hysteria was definitely back. Why had she ever thought that a bear was better then the lion?

Mary sighed, again.


End file.
